The Columbia men’s tennis team continued its fantastic spring season this weekend by sweeping Stony Brook and Binghamton.
The Lions (8-2) began the weekend strongly, defeating Binghamton, 6-1. The match got off to a quick start for Columbia, as it swept the doubles point easily.
“We actually played pretty well against SUNY Binghamton,” said head coach Bid Goswami. “We started the doubles really well. I mean, that was the best doubles we have played.”
The Lions began doubles competition with an 8-1 win by Bogdan Borta and Mihai Nichifor at No. 1 doubles. At No. 2, Jon Wong and Haig Schneiderman won a tight match 8-6, and the No. 3 doubles pair of Dan Urban and Rajeev Deb-Sen won easily as well, 8-2.
Singles was a tighter affair, as Binghamton managed to put a dent into the Columbia armor, winning at No. 2 singles when Borta was defeated in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2 by Sven Vloedgraven. That was all the Lions would allow, however, sweeping the remainder of the matches en route to a 6-1 win. Wong won in straight sets at No. 1 singles 7-5, 6-4 in two tight sets decided by one break apiece. Nichifor extended his unbeaten record this spring to 6-0 by winning in two 6-4 sets. Ekin Sezgen, a freshman playing at No. 4, beat Binghamton’s Gilbert Wong, who came into the competition with only one loss in dual matches this season. The battle of the two freshmen ended with a Sezgen win, 7-6 and 6-3. Wins by Schneiderman and Kevin Kung in straight sets rounded out the victory for Columbia.
The Lions next faced Stony Brook on Saturday. Columbia swept the doubles point for the second straight day, giving them a 1-0 lead in the match. No. 1 and No. 2 doubles took easy 8-3 wins, but No. 3 doubles struggled to an 8-7 (7-5) win in a match that was decided in a tiebreak since Columbia had already won the doubles point.
“I didn’t think we played as good [in] doubles against Stony Brook,” Goswami said. “Maybe a bit of a let down [from Binghamton].”
Wong got the Lions off to a fast start in singles, winning 6-0 and 6-2. Nichifor remained undefeated by winning in straight sets at No. 3 singles, and Deb-Sen and Sezgen picked up wins to secure the match for Columbia. The Lions also got comeback wins from Schneiderman and Borta as both dropped their first sets but rallied to win during their next attempts, eventually taking their matches in tiebreaks.
The Lions will next take on the College of Charleston on Monday looking to extend their winning streak to five, weather pending.
“Home court is always great for us,” Goswami said, “I hope we can keep it up. I don’t know much about the team at all but I heard that they are pretty good.”
Charleston enters with a record of 2-3 on the season and was scheduled to play Princeton on Sunday in a match that had not yet gone final.
Omer Abramovich leads Charleston at No. 1 singles and is coming off a three-set win against the No. 1 player from St. Bonaventure. The Cougars are on their spring break trip, coming up north to play Ivy schools Princeton and Columbia, as well as Richmond on Wednesday.
“Hopefully we will have a good match and the snow will cooperate and let them travel,” Goswami said.
The match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Dick Savitt Tennis Center.